The bitcoin pyramid scheme How is that working out, where are the Lambos?

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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,029
126
www.anyf.ca
Will be interesting to see what happens when there's only a couple super powers that are mining. If not enough people mine it means the accountability to the system starts to go down I think. Ex: if they are corrupt they could start manipulating stuff.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
When everyone is mining for gold, don't join them, sell them mining picks.

They didn't follow that advice, though. A lot of the ASIC miner guys realized that they can make more money mining with their hardware than they could selling it while Bitcoin was going up. Now that it's plummeting, they're just as screwed as everyone else.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,583
10,785
136
They didn't follow that advice, though. A lot of the ASIC miner guys realized that they can make more money mining with their hardware than they could selling it while Bitcoin was going up. Now that it's plummeting, they're just as screwed as everyone else.

Depends on the development cycle. ASIC manufacturers typically only mine off their own hardware for a few months before selling to customers. They've always got a new model in the works, so they have a relatively good idea of what's coming down the pipe. Why maintain a bunch of old Antminers (for example) when new models are coming out every 6-12 months? They are constantly turning over their own hardware. The only thing they can't predict are price swings. So if the market crashes just as they start to mine with a new model, then yeah they are kinda screwed, at least until prices go back up.
 

Braznor

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2005
4,497
349
126
The US dollar is backed ultimately by the US armed forces. Try beating that. Every nuclear missile manufactured is ultimately to shore up currency value. Try beating that. Crypto is shit currently except for illegal transactions that need secured value transfers.
 

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,396
2,306
136
https://www.asicminervalue.com/


99aU1zM.jpg
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,583
10,785
136
I'm surprised they have any CryptoNight miners listed there, since they can't mine on the main chain anymore. Otherwise very informative.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
Nimiq (one of the cryptocurrencies I used to play with) apparently paid their developers $180K a year and paid for their room and board in a Costa Rican beach house while they were developing their coin.

Meanwhile, the value of their cryptocurrency dropped 95% six months after it launched and the people who funded their ICO basically lost everything.

But, hey, I got a t-shirt out of the deal, so it's not all bad :)

One of their developers apparently went rogue and posted a lot of the team's dirty laundry on Reddit:


I wonder how many other stories we'll hear like this in 2019 while many of the various copycat coins go bust.
 
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DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,583
10,785
136
Nimiq is one of the more infamous examples of ICO scamming. There are other projects that have lost the same amount of value (or more) since launch that are still updating their project. Either way, investors got hammered.
 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
Bitcoin isn't a pyrmaid scheme. That's a silly concept. But, people are short sighted. They aren't thinking long term and most got caught up in the hype. Where is BitCoin going to be in 20 years? That's the question you should ask yourself. Play the long game. Will it be around, and if so will it worthwhile to hold onto your share. IMO, it's not going anywhere. We just have to see I guess.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
I'd like to think of Bitcoin like the pets.com of crypto. A good idea, but poorly executed and too early to market. Something better will replace it as the dominate cryptocurrency at some point.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
Anyone mining on NH, using a GTX 1660-series, RTX 2060/70/80/80ti? How's the profits? The profitability calculator had some info, but it wasn't fully fleshed-out for all of those cards. Looks like RTX 2080ti can make $50/mo, at current CC prices and diff. levels, but that's still a long, long ROI, considering the initial prices of those, and how difficulty ramps up, and earnings seemingly constantly go down, for a particular piece of hardware. I don't think that it would be worth it, but if you were already considering to buy an RTX 2080ti, for gaming or Compute, doing some mining on the side wouldn't be the worst idea, to offset the cost of it. Well, just watch out for the Space Invaders. *grin*


Apparently, they are the "fastest at mining", but when looking at ROI, based on their initial retail cost, they make NO SENSE to purchase, specifically for mining. However, that YouTube was based on the RTX 2080ti. I'm more curious about the 1660ti, which comes in at a more reasonable cost of $279.

I also, earlier, watched a "livestream" on YouTube of some guys testing out a 1660ti mining, live, and they seemed really hyped about it. Runs cool, low power, even with only 20-25% fanspeed, basically, they thought it was great for mining Grin. They were running some custom Linux mining OS, I don't know how NH fares with that card. Although, I may find out, soon enough.
 
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DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,583
10,785
136
Never thought of it this way

There's a lot not to like about Bitcoin, but that isn't really one of those things. Nobody behind BTC ever meant for it to be a drain on electrical output. It just happened that way since nobody really thought through the whole PoW thing to its conclusion.

Good time to buy!

Yes and no. There have been lower prices on tokens as recently as January. ETH is up like $40 from its recent floor of ~$100 and BTC has been lower too.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,029
126
www.anyf.ca
Yeah noticed ETH going up, happy to see that since I'm still mining it. Have like $300 worth so far... not exactly big money mind you unless it skyrockets. That's kinda what I'm hoping for. Does not hurt to hold on to it for now either way. The exchange I was using kinda went caput and not sure of any other Canadian exchanges so I'll figure that out when I'm ready to cash in.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,512
29,099
146
Bitcoin isn't a pyrmaid scheme. That's a silly concept. But, people are short sighted. They aren't thinking long term and most got caught up in the hype. Where is BitCoin going to be in 20 years? That's the question you should ask yourself. Play the long game. Will it be around, and if so will it worthwhile to hold onto your share. IMO, it's not going anywhere. We just have to see I guess.

To me, advising to "play the long game" while openly asking if it will be around at all are phrases that really don't belong together.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
There's a lot not to like about Bitcoin, but that isn't really one of those things. Nobody behind BTC ever meant for it to be a drain on electrical output. It just happened that way since nobody really thought through the whole PoW thing to its conclusion.

The major cryptocurrencies were supposed to be migrating over to Proof Of Stake by now. That's kinda hard to do when majority of Bitcoin mining is now done by massive Chinese mining conglomerates who are happy with maintaining the status quo, though.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,583
10,785
136
The major cryptocurrencies were supposed to be migrating over to Proof Of Stake by now. That's kinda hard to do when majority of Bitcoin mining is now done by massive Chinese mining conglomerates who are happy with maintaining the status quo, though.

Bitcoin's developers are toothless, and I don't think they've even suggested PoS for Bitcoin anyway. I expect Bitcoin to remain stuck in 2009. At the time, nobody ever really thought that Chinese mining conglomerates would ever be a thing. Now that they exist, nobody has a plan to change that.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,029
126
www.anyf.ca
Bitcoin was a good start and brought up a very interesting concept. Hard to tell if it's here to stay, but if it's not, I think something even better will replace it.

I would not bet my life savings on cryptocurrency, but it does not hurt to at least invest a bit into it. I just wish the government would not tax it, the way they tax it makes it very complicated as you get taxed every time you make a transaction so it's not worth trying to play the market with lot of small transactions or you'll just lose your shirt to taxes if you actually follow the rules. I don't even know how I'm suppose to do the accounting and even my tax person does not know how. I just have not bothered tbh. They need to either find a way to automate it where you get a form in the mail like everything else, or they need to give better instructions.

IMO if they want to tax it, they should only tax it when you convert to dollar. Then that could be built into exchanges/banking system, and you get a form in the mail to give to your tax person.